France eyes aircraft carrier, frigate order in 2025 spending plan

PARIS — France’s defense budget next year includes orders for a next-generation aircraft carrier to replace the Charles de Gaulle as well as a new frigate, Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu told a parliamentary hearing on Monday, sketching the outlines of the ministry’s plans in 2025.

The defense ministry plans to boost spending on ammunition, particularly “complex munitions,” lift the space budget and raise funding for intelligence gathering and cyber, Lecornu told the defense committee of the lower house. Other areas of investment will include research on directed-energy weapons, artificial intelligence and deep-sea capabilities.

The French government has proposed to lift the 2025 defense budget to €50.54 billion (US$55 billion) from €47.23 billion this year, one of the few departments to see funding increase as Prime Minister Michel Barnier attempts to bring the country’s budget deficit under control.

The aircraft carrier order will mean the start of “a program with major impact,” Lecornu told lawmakers. The minister last year estimated the cost of the vessel that will replace the Charles de Gaulle nuclear-powered carrier in the €10 billion range. The country also plans to order another defense and intervention frigate, after Naval Group started sea trials of the first unit in the program earlier this month.

France plans to increase ammo buying by 27% to €1.9 billion, with purchases including MBDA’s Meteor air-to-air missile, Mistral and Aster air-defense interceptors, Scalp cruise missiles and Exocet anti-ship missiles, as well as heavy torpedoes, according to Lecornu. The budget for the SAMP/T NG air-defense system developed together with Italy will double to €500 million.

The minister took a swipe at European countries buying the Patriot air-defense system, saying the new generation SAMP/T with its 360-degree radar coverage outperforms its U.S. competitor. First tests with the Aster B1 NT missile to distinguish its target in a saturated airspace with multiple objects have been “very conclusive,” Lecornu said.

Lecornu said he is counting on Thales and MBDA to make the SAMP/T NG system an export success, where the previous generation failed to find many buyers outside France and Italy. “We can see that it’s going to sell,” and one key element will be MBDA moving towards “a war economy with production lines that hold up” to deal with attrition, the minister said.

France plans to allocate a third of its defense budget to acquisition and maintenance of equipment, with the budget for large armament programs other than nuclear rising 16% to €10.6 billion. Salaries will account for 27% of the 2025 defense budget, with nuclear deterrence amounting to 14% of spending.

The budget for nuclear deterrence will climb 8% next year, which will pay for continued development of the M51 submarine-launched ballistic nuclear missile and work on the ASN4G hypersonic missile, expected to enter service in the 2030s, Lecornu said. He also mentioned this year’s start of construction of France’s third-generation ballistic-missile submarine.

The space budget will increase 15% to €870 million. Lecornu said militarization of space is “unfortunately” continuing, with projects by the great powers that could endanger security. Spending on robots and drones will increase around 12% to €450 million, while the Armed Forces Ministry plans to triple the budget for artificial intelligence to €300 million, including investment in a supercomputer for defense AI .

Deliveries next year will include 14 Rafale fighter jets, an Airbus A400 transport aircraft, a defense and intervention frigate, 308 armored vehicles in the Scorpion program and 21 renovated Leclerc main battle tanks, according to Lecornu.

France aims to be able to deploy two brigades in an expeditionary capacity in 2027, and have the ability to deploy an Army corps in 2030, either within a NATO framework or outside of it, Lecornu said.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——法国武装部队部长塞巴斯蒂安·勒科尔努周一在议会听证会上表示，法国明年的国防预算包括订购一艘下一代航空母舰来取代“戴高乐”号，以及一艘新的护卫舰，并概述了该部2025年的计划。

国防部长莱科尔努在众议院国防委员会作证时表示，国防部计划增加弹药开支，特别是“复杂弹药”，提高太空预算，并增加情报收集和网络安全方面的资金。其他投资领域包括定向能武器、人工智能和深海作战能力的研究。

法国政府提议将 2025 年国防预算从今年的 472.3 亿欧元提高到 505.4 亿欧元（550 亿美元），这是少数几个获得资金增加的部门之一，总理米歇尔·巴尼耶正努力控制该国的预算赤字。

勒科尔努告诉议员们，订购这艘航母将标志着“一项影响深远的计划”的启动。这位部长去年估计，这艘将取代“戴高乐”号核动力航母的舰艇造价约为100亿欧元。法国还计划订购另一艘防御和干预护卫舰，此前法国海军集团已于本月初启动了该项目首艘护卫舰的海试。

据勒科尔努透露，法国计划将弹药采购量增加27%，达到19亿欧元，采购项目包括MBDA公司的“流星”空空导弹、“西北风”和“紫菀”防空拦截导弹、“风暴阴影”巡航导弹、“飞鱼”反舰导弹以及重型鱼雷。此外，与意大利联合研发的SAMP/T NG防空系统的预算也将翻一番，达到5亿欧元。

这位部长抨击了购买“爱国者”防空系统的欧洲国家，称新一代SAMP/T系统凭借其360度雷达覆盖范围，性能优于其美国竞争对手。莱科尔努表示，使用“紫菀B1 NT”导弹在充满多个目标的饱和空域中识别目标的首次测试结果“非常确凿”。

勒科尔努表示，他寄希望于泰雷兹和MBDA公司能够使SAMP/T NG系统在出口方面取得成功，而上一代系统在法国和意大利以外地区却鲜有买家。“我们相信它一定会畅销，”这位部长说，关键在于MBDA公司能否转型为“拥有能够应对损耗的生产线的战时经济”，

法国计划将国防预算的三分之一用于装备的采购和维护，除核武器以外的大型军备项目的预算将增加16%，达到106亿欧元。2025年国防预算中，薪资将占27%，核威慑支出占14%。

勒科尔努表示，明年核威慑预算将增长8%，用于继续研发M51潜射弹道核导弹以及ASN4G高超音速导弹，后者预计将于2030年代服役。他还提到，法国第三代弹道导弹潜艇的建造工作已于今年启动。

太空预算将增加15%，达到8.7亿欧元。莱科尔努表示，太空军事化“令人遗憾地”仍在继续，大国的太空项目可能会危及安全。机器人和无人机方面的支出将增加约12%，达到4.5亿欧元，而武装部队部计划将人工智能预算增加两倍，达到3亿欧元，其中包括投资建设一台用于国防人工智能的超级计算机。

据勒科尔努称，明年交付的货物将包括 14 架阵风战斗机、一架空客 A400 运输机、一艘防御和干预护卫舰、308 辆蝎子计划装甲车和 21 辆翻新的勒克莱尔主战坦克。

勒科尔努表示，法国的目标是到 2027 年能够以远征军身份部署两个旅，并到 2030 年能够部署一个军，无论是在北约框架内还是框架外。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。